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Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 19:28:54 -0400
From: John Colagioia <JColagioia@csi.com>
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Subject: Re: evolutionism in IF
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Per Olofsson wrote:

>In the game I'm currently working on the PC finds an artifact that's
>more than ten thousand years old. This precludes the biblical story
>of creation, at least in it's orthodox guise. Would anyone find that
>offensive or in any way off-colour?
>

I, personally, plan to be highly offended at that, the background color
you choose, the font used by the interpreter, the name of the pivotal
NPC, the (natural and programming) language you choose to illustrate
your story, and...oh, I don't know...maybe the fact that the game will
execute on calendrical Thursdays (as opposed to what day my computer
might think it is).

Does that clarify things...?

If you'd like a slightly more serious answer, and are genuinely worried
about people who don't believe that an all-powerful god can back-date
stuff, then you can try to consistently work ambiguity into all the
statements.  "It is *believed* to be over ten millenia old."

I should point out, though, that the date of 4004BC (late October, was
it?) is not directly establishable, as far as I know.  Lots of
circumstantial evidence needs to be pieced together to come up with that
number, implying that even the most die-hard believer can accept an
alternative history as a backdrop to fiction.  As much as they might
accept the Sphinx, for example.

